Adobe illustrator cs4- P4 ppsx

In this chapter, we’ll focus on the paths and anchor points that make up a vector shape, and we’ll get a grasp of all the tools you can use to create and modify these paths.. Now, move y

many steps as are necessary to display a smooth and gradual transition

between key objects (Figure 2.43) The Specifi ed Steps setting allows

you to defi ne exactly how many blend steps Illustrator creates Using

a higher number of steps results in a smoother transition, whereas a lower number allows you to see the individual steps in the blend The Specifi ed Distance setting allows you to specify how far apart each step appears from the next When you want to create shading techniques using blends, the Smooth Color option provides the best results When creating steps for a Flash animation, specifying fewer steps will help playback performance

• Orientation The Orientation setting controls the baseline angle of

each step in your blend With the Align to Page setting, each blend step aligns parallel to the bottom of the page, even if the path is curved or diagonal With this setting, all blends steps share the same orientation

In contrast, the Align to Path setting aligns the baseline of each blend step to the angle of the path With this setting, you’ll see that each blend

step has a different orientation (Figure 2.44).

Replacing the Spine of a Blend

As we briefl y mentioned earlier, you’ll notice a straight path that connects

the key objects in a blend This path is referred to as the spine of the blend

The individual steps that are created in a blend follow along the spine as

Figure 2.43 The Blend

Options dialog box off ers

spacing and orientation

options for blending.

Figure 2.44 On the left, the

blend is set to the Align to

Page option The blend on

the right is set to the Align

to Path orientation option.

CREATING TRANSITIONS WITH BLENDS 65

they connect the two outer objects The spine is an editable path, and you

can use the Pen tool and the Direct Selection tool to edit the path if you

want to alter the direction of the blend steps In fact, the position of the

control handles on a spine can control how the individual steps are

distrib-uted along the spine

Additionally, you can perform a delicate operation—a spine transplant

You can draw any vector path, open or closed, and use it as the spine for

an existing blend To perform this surgery, select both the blend and the

path you’ve created, and then choose Object > Blend > Replace Spine

Illustrator then uses the path you created as the spine for the blend,

allowing you to customize how blend steps appear

Reversing Blends

With a blend selected, you can choose Object > Blend > Reverse Spine to

reverse the order of the key objects in your blend This function is helpful

when you want to fl ip the blend so that it travels in the opposite direction

You can reverse the stacking order of the key objects in a blend by

select-ing the blend and choosselect-ing Object > Blend > Reverse Front to Back This

setting is especially useful for when you are using blends to create

anima-tions, which always travel in one direction To have your animation play in

reverse, you use this feature

Releasing and Expanding Blends

As with Envelope distortions, you can select an existing blend and choose

Object > Blend > Release, which removes the blend steps and returns

the artwork to its original state (just the two original objects) In addition,

you can choose Object > Blend > Expand, which applies the blend to the

artwork itself, leaving the individual blend steps visible and available for

editing Once a blend has been expanded, it is no longer updated when the

original two objects are edited

There is yet another way to release a blend that is useful, especially when

you’re creating frames for animations either that will be exported directly

from Illustrator as SWF (Flash) fi les or that will be imported into video

software such as Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere Pro, or Apple Final

Cut Pro This method actually expands the blend into its individual steps

and then places each step on its own layer To release a blend in this way, you must follow these steps:

1 If it isn’t already open, choose Window > Layers to open your Layers panel

2 In the Layers panel, highlight the blend object you want to release by

clicking it once (Figure 2.45).

3 From the Layers panel menu (Figure 2.46), choose Release to Layers

(Sequence), or choose Release to Layers (Build)

You should use the Sequence option when you want each layer to contain only one step, and you should use the Build option when you want to pro-duce layers that add steps cumulatively to each layer that is created

Figure 2.45 The Release

to Layers command is a

feature of the Layers panel,

so selecting the blend on

the artboard won’t help You

have to highlight the blend

in the Layers panel.

Figure 2.46 Illustrator

sup-ports the ability to release

artwork to layers using the

Sequence or Build method.

Chapter

THREE

Technical Drawing

In our experience, we’ve found that some people seem to

“get” the concept of vector drawing immediately Terms

such as anchor points, control handles, and compound paths

all make perfect sense to these folks, and the Pen tool

in Adobe Illustrator CS4 is a natural extension of their

imagination and creativity They spend as much time in

Outline view as they do in Preview mode These “people

of the path,” if you will, possess an analytical view, and

they can visualize the vector “building blocks” that make

up an overall graphic

In this chapter, we’ll focus on the paths and anchor

points that make up a vector shape, and we’ll get a grasp

of all the tools you can use to create and modify these

paths The good news is that Illustrator has plenty of tools and functions

that can help you create your masterpiece—or just a rectangle if that’s what

you need

The artwork featured throughout this chapter comes from John Woodcock

(iStockPhoto; username: johnwoodcock).

67

D R AWING P RIMITIVE V ECTOR

S HAPES

Illustrator contains a healthy set of primitive vector drawing tools In this

case, primitive doesn’t mean “something simple” as much as it means “acting

as a basis from which something else is derived.” Artists are taught to sketch using primitive shapes, such as rectangles and ovals, so that they can build structure; you can certainly apply similar techniques to drawing with vector shapes in Illustrator Instead of trying to draw complex shapes, try to visual-ize how you can combine simple shapes in a variety of ways to create more

complex ones (Figure 3.1).

Figure 3.1 Rather than draw

com-plex elements from scratch, you can draw elements from a tree, for example, from basic circles You can make the overall shape by adding multiple circles to each other (left), and you can create the detail by subtracting circles from each other (right).

The primitive drawing tools in Illustrator are split up between those that create closed-path vector objects and those that create open-path vector objects Additionally, these tools are interactive in that you can specify or control certain settings while drawing shapes To take advantage of this functionality, you choose a tool and begin drawing As you hold down the mouse button, you’re able to make changes to the shape you’re creating, but once you release the mouse button, you commit to the shape Let’s explore how this works

Using Closed-Path Shape Tools

The closed-path tools in Illustrator comprise the Rectangle, Rounded Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon, and Star tools, and they are all grouped

together in the Tools panel (Figure 3.2) To create any of these shapes,

choose the desired tool, click the artboard, and drag outward While ging the pointer, you can add commands to adjust the shape interactively

drag-See Table 3.1 for a list of these interactive commands.

NOTE The Flare tool

that is used to create

vector-based lens fl are eff ects

is also grouped with the

closed-path shape tools A

valid question is why the Flare

tool is located here, but it’s

diffi cult to come up with an

acceptable answer The Flare

tool is covered in detail in

Chapter 4, “Creative Drawing.”

DRAWING PRIMITIVE VECTOR SHAPES 69

Figure 3.2 The closed-path

shape tools are all grouped with the Rectangle tool in the Tools panel.

Table 3.1 Drawing with Closed-Path Shape Tools

M N/A L N/A N/A

in a perfect circle.

Constrains the bottom side to

be parallel to the constrain angle.

Constrains the bottom two points

to be parallel to the constrain angle.

Option (Alt) Draws the shape out

from its center point

instead of its corner.

Draws the shape out from its center point instead of its corner.

Draws the shape out from its center point instead of its corner.

N/A N/A

Command

(Ctrl)

N/A N/A N/A N/A Adjusts the inner

radius of the shape.

reposition the

shape on the

artboard.

Allows you to reposition the shape

on the artboard.

Allows you to reposition the shape

on the artboard.

Allows you to reposition the shape on the artboard.

Allows you to reposition the shape

on the artboard.

copies of the shape.

Creates multiple copies of the shape.

Creates multiple copies of the shape.

Creates multiple copies of the shape.

Creates multiple copies of the shape.

corners.

N/A N/A N/A

Moving the mouse

in a circular motion rotates the shape.

Using Open-Path Shape Tools

The open-path tools in Illustrator comprise the Line Segment, Arc, Spiral, Rectangular Grid, and Polar Grid tools, and they are all grouped together

in the Tools panel (Figure 3.3) To create any of these shapes, choose

the desired tool, click the artboard, and drag outward While dragging the pointer, you can add commands to adjust the shape interactively See

Table 3.2 for a list of these interactive commands.

Figure 3.3 The open-path

shape tools are all grouped with the Line tool in the Tools panel.

\ (backslash) N/A N/A N/A N/A

Constrains the path to angles

in 45-degree increments.

Constrains the grid to a perfect square.

Constrains the grid to

a perfect circle.

from its center point instead of its corner.

Increases the length of the path.

Draws the grid out from its center instead of its corner.

Draws the grid out from its center instead of its corner.

Command

(Ctrl)

N/A N/A Adjusts the decay

of the path (making the winds of the spiral more drastic).

on the artboard.

Allows you to reposition the path

on the artboard.

Allows you to reposition the path on the artboard.

Allows you to reposition the path

on the artboard.

copies of the path.

Creates multiple copies of the path.

Creates multiple copies of the path.

Creates multiple copies of the path.

Creates multiple copies of the path.

the curve to make it more convex.

Increases the ber of segments in the spiral.

num-Increases the number of rows in the grid.

Increases the number

of concentric dividers.

NOTE Even though

they are grouped with

the open-path tools, the

Rect-angular Grid and Polar Grid

tools create a combination of

both open and closed paths

Table 3.2 Drawing with Open-Path Shape Tools

DRAWING PRIMITIVE VECTOR SHAPES 71

Interactive

Command

Line Segment

of the curve to make

it more concave.

Decreases the number of segments in the spiral.

Decreases the number

of rows in the grid.

Decreases the number

of concentric dividers.

columns in the grid.

Increases the number

of radial dividers.

columns in the grid.

Decreases the number

N/A N/A

closed shape instead

of an open path.

N/A C skews the columns in

the grid to the left;

X skews the columns in the grid to the right.

C skews the concentric dividers toward the center;

X skews away from the center.

axes of the path.

N/A F skews the rows in the

grid to the top; V skews the rows in the grid to the bottom.

F skews the radial dividers toward the left; V skews them to the right.

Drawing by Numbers

If you’re an aspiring artist, you can buy a paint-by-number kit that uses

numbers to indicate where colors are supposed to go, taking the guesswork

out of the design process Although being free to create is certainly a good

thing, you don’t want to be guessing when you’ve been asked to create a

shape that’s an exact size The methods of drawing we’ve discussed to this

point are purely for those in a creative state of mind As you create each

shape, your mind is saying, “Yeah, that’s about right.” However, sometimes

you are required to specify exact dimensions for shapes, and Illustrator can

be precise up to four decimal places

To create any shape numerically, select the tool you need, click the artboard

once, and immediately release the mouse button A dialog box appears,

letting you specify exact values for the shape or path you want to create

(Figure 3.4 on the next page) For most shapes, this action uses the point

where you clicked the artboard as the upper-left corner of the shape To

draw a shape with its center point at the place you click, press the

Option (Alt) key while clicking, and then drag

Table 3.2 Drawing with Open-Path Shape Tools (continued)

In Chapter 2, “Selecting and Editing Artwork,” we discussed how you can use the Control panel or the Transform panel to change an existing object’s dimensions numerically as well.

D R AWING AND E DITING F REE -F OR M

V ECTORS

Strip away the cool effects Forget all the fancy tools Ignore the endless range of gradients and colors Look past the veneer of both print and web graphics What you’re left with is the basis of all things vector—the anchor point You can learn to master every shape tool in Illustrator, but if you don’t have the ability to create and edit individual anchor points, you’ll fi nd

it diffi cult to design freely

Illustrator contains a range of tools that you can use to fi ne-tune paths and edit anchor points At fi rst, it might seem like these all perform the same functions, but upon closer inspection, you’ll fi nd each has its use

Mastering the Pen Tool

Just the mention of the Pen tool sends shivers down the spines of designers throughout the world Traditionally, the Illustrator Pen tool has frustrated many users who have tried their hand at creating vector paths In fact, when the Pen tool was introduced in the fi rst version of Illustrator in 1987, word had it that John Warnock, the brain and developer behind Illustrator, was the only one who really knew how to use it In truth, the Pen tool feels more like an engineer’s tool than an artist’s tool

But don’t let this prevent you from learning to use it

Learning how to use the Pen tool reaps numerous rewards Although the Pen tool fi rst appeared in Illustrator, you’ll fi nd it in Adobe Photoshop CS4, Adobe InDesign CS4, Adobe Flash CS4 Professional, Adobe Fireworks CS4,

Figure 3.4 Clicking a blank

area on an artboard or

the canvas with a shape

tool allows you to specify

numeric values and create

a shape precisely.

TIP When drawing

new paths with the

Pen tool, it’s best to set your

fi ll to None and your stroke to

black Otherwise, Illustrator

will fi ll the path as you create

it, making it diffi cult to see

your work

DRAWING AND EDITING FREE-FORM VECTORS 73

and even Adobe After Effects CS4; if you know how to use it in Illustrator,

you can use it in all the other applications as well You can use the Pen tool to

tweak any vector path to create the exact shape you need, at any time

Addi-tionally, if you give yourself a chance, you’ll see that there’s a method to the

madness After learning a few simple concepts, you’ll quickly realize that

any-one can use the Pen tool

Usually, when new users select the Pen tool and try to draw with it, they

click and drag it the same way they might use a normal pen on paper They

are surprised when a path does not appear onscreen; instead, several handles

appear At this point, they click again and drag; now a path appears, but it

is totally not where they expect it to appear This experience is sort of like

grabbing a hammer by its head and trying to drive a nail by whacking it

with the handle—it’s the right tool, but it’s being used in the wrong way

While we’re discussing hammers, let’s consider their function in producing

string art When you create a piece of string art, you fi rst start with a piece

of wood, and then you hammer nails part of the way into it, leaving each

nail sticking out a bit Then you take colored thread and wrap it around the

exposed nail heads, thus creating your art The design you create consists of

the strands of colored thread, but the thread is held and shaped by the nails

In fact, you can say that the nails are like anchors for the threads

When you’re using the Pen tool in Illustrator, imagine you’re hammering

those little nails into the wood In this situation, you aren’t drawing the

shape itself; instead, you’re creating the anchors for the shape—the Bézier

anchor points Illustrator draws the thread—the path—for you If you think

about drawing in this way, using the Pen tool isn’t complicated at all The

hard part is just fi guring out where you need to position the anchors to get

the shape you need Learning to position the anchors correctly comes with

experience, but you can get started by learning how to draw simple shapes

(Figure 3.5).

TIP Holding the Shift key while you click with the Pen tool constrains paths to 45-degree incre-ments Additionally, you can choose View > Smart Guides

to have Illustrator display helpful guides and hints as you move the pointer (see Chapter 1, “Creating and Managing Documents,” for more information about smart guides)

Figure 3.5 Even though it

may appear complex at fi rst glance, this skyline is made

up of of straight paths, curved paths, and combina- tion paths—which consist

of both straight lines and curves.

Anatomy of a Vector Object

To truly comprehend how vectors work, you need a solid understanding of the terminology Otherwise, the words are meaningless and don’t make sense when you try to apply techniques that use these terms Overall, when working

in Illustrator, there are two parts of an object that you’re concerned with The

vector path defi nes the object in a mathematical way using anchor points This path doesn’t print The appearance of a path determines how it will look when

printed and is defi ned with attributes such as fi lls and strokes (Figure 3.6).

Figure 3.6 Vector graphics comprise of paths and appearances.

Drawing Objects with Straight Paths

Follow these steps to use the Pen tool to draw a straight path:

1 Select the Pen tool, and click the artboard once—do not click and drag

Clicking once with the Pen tool creates a corner anchor point This anchor

point is the start point of your path

Appearance

Fill Stroke

Path

Smooth Anchor Point Control Handle (aka Direction Handle)

Combination Point (aka Change-Direction Point) Corner Anchor Point

DRAWING AND EDITING FREE-FORM VECTORS 75

2 Now, move your pointer to where you want the end point of your path

(Figure 3.7); click again to defi ne a second corner anchor point.

Figure 3.7 After you’ve

clicked once to create the

fi rst anchor point, move your pointer to the location where you want the second anchor point.

Once you create this second point, Illustrator automatically connects the

two anchor points with a straight path, completing the line (Figure 3.8).

Figure 3.8 Clicking a

second time creates the path between the two anchor points.

For now, the fi rst concept becomes clear: When you’re using the Pen tool,

clicking—not dragging—is what defi nes a corner anchor point

At this point, with your Pen tool still selected, Illustrator assumes you

want to add points to your path By clicking again, you can create a

third corner anchor point, and if you do, Illustrator draws a path to

connect the second anchor point to the newly created one (Figure 3.9).

Figure 3.9 Each successive

click with the Pen tool tinues to create additional path segments.

con-Admittedly, this behavior may prove confusing because you may have been

expecting to start a new path rather than add to the existing one To start a

new path, you fi rst have to deselect the current path

Ending a Path

The easiest way to end a path is to click a blank area on the artboard while pressing the Command (Ctrl) key, which temporarily changes your tool to the Selection tool Once you’ve deselected the path, you can click with the Pen tool to start drawing a new path

So, now you understand the second concept: When drawing an open path

with the Pen tool, each click adds another anchor point to the path until you deselect the path, which is how you indicate to Illustrator you’ve fi nished that path

Drawing a Closed Path

You can indicate that you’ve fi nished drawing a path in another way—by drawing a closed path Until now, you’ve been creating open paths, but now you can try to create a closed shape—in this case, a triangle, such as one that might appear to draw the top of a building:

1 With nothing selected, select the Pen tool, and click once to defi ne the

fi rst anchor point of the triangle

2 Move the pointer to another part of the artboard, and click again to defi ne the second point

3 Now move the pointer once more, and click to defi ne a third anchor

point (Figure 3.10).

A triangle has three sides, so you have all the anchor points you need, but at the moment, the object you’ve drawn is an open path

4 To complete the shape, move the pointer so it rests directly on the

fi rst anchor point that you defi ned, and click once to close the path

(Figure 3.11).

At this point, if you click again elsewhere on the artboard, the Pen tool starts drawing a new path

This brings you to the third concept: When you create a closed path, the next

click with the Pen tool starts a new path

DRAWING AND EDITING FREE-FORM VECTORS 77

Figure 3.10 A triangle

needs three anchor points; the third click creates two path segments.

Figure 3.11 Clicking

the fi rst anchor point completes the shape

This is the shape after

it has been closed.

If this sounds confusing, try it once or twice, which should help—especially

if you pay attention to your Pen tool pointer When you’re using the Pen

tool, the pointer changes as you draw, helping you understand the three

concepts you’ve just learned When the Pen tool is going to start creating

a new path, a small x appears at the lower right of the icon; when the Pen

tool is going to add anchor points to an existing selected open path, no icon

appears next to it; and when the Pen tool is going to close a path, a small o

appears at the lower right of the icon (Figure 3.12).

Drawing Objects with Curved Paths

The paths you’ve drawn up until this point were all made up of corner

anchor points, which are connected with straight lines Of course, you’ll

also need to create paths with curved lines, like those used to defi ne the

trees that appear in the skyline artwork; this section explains what you

need to know

Figure 3.12 The Pen tool

subtly indicates which tion it will perform.

func-NOTE By now, you understand the state-ment we made earlier about how drawing the path is the easy part of using the Pen tool The hard part is trying

to fi gure out where to place the anchor points to get the path you want

Clicking starts

a new path.

Clicking removes an anchor point from

an existing path.

Clicking adds a new

anchor point and a

segment to a path.

Clicking adds an anchor point to an existing path.

Clicking begins editing a selected open path.

Dragging changes the direction

of the path.

Clicking closes

an existing path.

Curves are defi ned with direction handles that control how the paths between

anchor points are drawn When you want to draw a curved path, you follow the same basic concepts you learned for creating straight paths, with one additional step that defi nes the direction handles

1 To draw a curved path, select the Pen tool, and make sure an existing path isn’t selected Position your pointer where you want to begin your path, and then click and drag outward before releasing the mouse but-

ton (Figure 3.13).

This action creates a smooth anchor point where you fi rst clicked and

defi nes direction handles at the point where you released the mouse

2 Now position your pointer where you want the next anchor point to be,

and click and drag once again (Figure 3.14).

Using the direction handles as guidance, Illustrator draws a curved path connecting the two smooth anchor points

3 Move your pointer to another location on your artboard, and click and drag to create a third smooth anchor point

4 Click and drag the fi rst anchor point to close the path (Figure 3.15).

Figure 3.13 Clicking and

dragging with the Pen tool

defi nes the smooth anchor

point and, at the same

time, lets you position the

direction handles.

Figure 3.14 Clicking and

dragging a second time

completes a curved path

segment between the fi rst

two anchor points and

defi nes the next curve

that will be drawn.